DJI Spark

The DJI Spark (company designation Model MM1A)[1] is a teleoperated compact quadcopter drone for personal and commercial aerial photography and videography use, released by the Chinese technology company DJI. The Spark had a short production run of only two years before it was replaced by the Mavic Mini.

Design and development

DJI announced the Spark in May 2017.[2] The Spark is a small quadcopter with forward and downward obstacle avoidance sensors and satellite navigation.[3][4] The drone is lighter and smaller than the company's Mavic Pro, but lacks folding arms, making it roughly the same size as a folded Mavic.[5][6][7] The Spark has a 12-megapixel camera with a 1/2.3" CMOS sensor mounted on a two-axis gimbal capable of capturing 1080p video at 30 frames per second.[8][9] The Spark was the first DJI drone to be controlled by hand gestures.[10][11][12] Originally, users controlling the drone with hand gestures still had to use their phone to control the camera, but a software update in August 2017 added the ability to record video with a new set of gestures.[13]

Upon release, the Spark competed with drones such as the GoPro Karma and Yuneec International Breeze.[14] After reports of Spark drones falling from the sky in August 2017, DJI identified the issue as a software bug and released a firmware update to fix it. DJI also remotely grounded any drones that did not receive the update.[15][16][17]

In August 2018, DJI collaborated with Line Friends to release a version of the Spark marked to represent the character Brown.[18]

The Spark was replaced by the Mavic Mini in 2019.[19] Unlike the Spark, which is required to be registered in most countries due to its 300 g weight, the Mavic Mini was designed to bypass drone registration regulations by weighing under 250 g.[20]

Specifications (Spark)

See also

External links